Inside

Inside is a puzzle platformer with modest graphical demands, and the measured frame rates for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination reflect that reality. The data shows a system capable of extreme performance, though the scaling patterns reveal where the bottleneck lies. This analysis breaks down the measured FPS across resolutions and settings, interprets the ranking data, and examines the roles of the CPU and GPU in producing these results.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant but not catastrophic, indicating a shift from a CPU-bound scenario at lower resolutions to a more balanced load at higher ones. At High settings, the average FPS falls from 220 at 1920x1080 to 158 at 2560x1440, a 28% reduction, and then to 99 at 3840x2160, a further 37% drop. This scaling is steeper than the pixel count increase would suggest, implying that the RTX 3080 is becoming the limiting factor as resolution rises.

At Low settings, the trend is even more pronounced. The 1920x1080 result of 318 FPS drops to 285 at 2560x1440, and then plummets to 199 at 4K. The 4K Low score is only 63% of the 1080p Low score, whereas the 4K High score is 45% of the 1080p High score. This suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is doing relatively more work, and the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth become more critical at 4K, even with reduced visual complexity.

The Medium preset provides the only min/max FPS data, giving a clearer picture of frame pacing. At 4K Medium, the average is 159 FPS with a minimum of 135 and a maximum of 183. The 48 FPS spread between min and max indicates occasional dips, likely due to complex scenes. At 1080p Medium, the average is 294 FPS, with a min of 250 and a max of 338, showing a wider 88 FPS spread, which hints at CPU limitations in less GPU-intensive scenarios.

The Ultra preset shows the smallest absolute difference between resolutions. At 1080p, it averages 210 FPS; at 1440p, 151 FPS; and at 4K, 95 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the lowest of all measured configurations, confirming that the RTX 3080's raw throughput is the primary constraint at the highest quality and resolution. The data indicates that for this game, the Ryzen 9 5950X has ample headroom, and the RTX 3080 is the component that dictates performance at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's single-threaded performance and cache are more relevant.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS recorded for this combo in Inside?

A: The highest average FPS is 318, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is followed closely by 294 FPS at 1080p Medium and 285 FPS at 1440p Low.

Q: How does the 4K Ultra performance compare to 1080p Ultra?

A: At 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 95, while at 1080p Ultra, it is 210. This represents a 55% decrease in frame rate, showing that the GPU is heavily taxed at the highest resolution and settings.

Q: Is there a significant performance gap between Low and High settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the gap is substantial. Low settings at 2560x1440 yield an average of 285 FPS, while High settings yield 158 FPS. This 127 FPS difference indicates that the visual fidelity improvements come at a considerable performance cost.

Q: What is the combo's rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 1012 out of 3716 tested combos. This places it in the top 27% of all configurations, which is notable given the game's age and the high-end nature of the components.

Q: Does the RTX 3080's VRAM capacity of 10 GB appear to be a limiting factor in this game?

A: The measured data does not indicate a VRAM limitation. The performance scaling from 1080p to 4K is consistent with GPU compute limits rather than memory capacity issues, as the frame rates remain high even at 4K Ultra.

Q: Which resolution and setting combo provides the most consistent frame rate based on available data?

A: The 4K Medium preset shows the tightest spread between average (159 FPS) and minimum (135 FPS), with a 24 FPS difference. This suggests more consistent frame pacing at this setting compared to the 1080p Medium, which has a 44 FPS spread between average and minimum.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the central piece for this game's performance, especially at higher resolutions. Its memory configuration includes 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, providing a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. This bandwidth is crucial for feeding the GPU's 8704 shading units and 96 ROPs, particularly at 4K where texture and pixel throughput demands are highest. The boost clock of 1710 MHz and base clock of 1440 MHz are standard for the Ampere architecture, and the data suggests they are sufficient to drive high frame rates in a game like Inside.

The GPU's compute capabilities, rated at 29.77 TFLOPS for FP32, are more than adequate for this puzzle platformer. The benchmark results show a Passmark G3D score of 25086 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 152423, which are strong indicators of general rendering performance. However, the game's visual style, which relies on atmospheric lighting and shadow effects rather than complex geometry, means that the RTX 3080's raw rasterization power is the main factor. The pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s are more relevant than ray tracing cores, which are not utilized in this title.

The comparison with nearest rivals is telling. The RTX 3080's average benchmark score is 23172, with the closest rival being the NVIDIA P106-100 at 23249, a delta of -0.3%. This indicates that in general benchmarks, the RTX 3080 is not significantly ahead of a much older, lower-tier card, which is unexpected. This is likely due to the benchmark suite weighting certain workloads, but for Inside specifically, the measured FPS shows the RTX 3080 performing admirably, with no evidence of bottlenecking at 4K. The GPU's memory bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s is a key advantage, as the game's high contrast scenes may require rapid data access.

The performance scaling from Low to Ultra at each resolution shows the GPU's headroom. At 1080p, the difference between Low (318 FPS) and Ultra (210 FPS) is 108 FPS, while at 4K, the difference is 104 FPS (199 vs 95). This consistent gap suggests that the RTX 3080 is not being overwhelmed by the Ultra preset's additional effects, but rather that the resolution increase is the primary load driver. The RTX 3080's percentile rank of 68 among all GPUs is modest, but this is a global statistic; in this specific game, the measured data shows it is more than sufficient for high-refresh-rate play at 1080p and 1440p, and still playable at 4K.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo rank in game is 1012 out of 3716 tested configurations, placing it in the 72.8th percentile of all combos. This ranking is a composite measure that considers both the CPU and GPU performance, and it puts this system in the upper quartile. Given that the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3080 are high-end components from their respective generations, this rank is expected, though not top-tier, because the game's low system requirements mean that even mid-range hardware can achieve very high frame rates.

The CPU's average benchmark score is 51947, with nearest rivals including the Intel Core Ultra 5 235HX (52073, -0.2%), AMD EPYC 8124P (52121, -0.3%), Intel Core i9-13900F (51730, +0.4%), and Intel Core i7-14700 (52301, -0.7%). These deltas are all within 0.7%, showing that the 5950X is competitive with modern mid-range and high-end CPUs, but not a leader. This is relevant because the CPU's performance in games like Inside, which are often single-threaded, will be similar to these rivals.

The GPU's average benchmark score is 23172, with nearest rivals being the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, -0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23250, -0.3%), AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23273, -0.4%), and AMD Radeon R9 M290X (23276, -0.4%). The negative deltas for all rivals indicate that the RTX 3080's score is slightly lower than these other cards, which is surprising given the RTX 3080's much higher specifications. This suggests that the Passmark G3D benchmark may not be fully utilizing the RTX 3080's architecture, or that the game's workload is different from the benchmark's.

In the context of Inside, the combo's rank of 1012 out of 3716 is more meaningful when considering the measured FPS. The system achieves over 200 FPS at 1080p High, which is far above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay. The ranking likely reflects that other combos with newer CPUs or GPUs can achieve similar or higher frame rates, but for this specific pairing, the performance is excellent. The data indicates that the bottleneck is primarily the GPU at 4K, while at 1080p, the CPU's single-thread performance is sufficient to avoid limiting the frame rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the data shows a full range of settings. Low settings produce an average of 318 FPS, which is the highest score in the entire dataset. Medium settings yield 294 FPS, with a minimum of 250 and a maximum of 338. High settings average 220 FPS, and Ultra settings average 210 FPS. The progression from Ultra to Low shows a 108 FPS increase, indicating that the settings have a moderate impact at this resolution, but even Ultra is well above the refresh rate of most monitors.

At 2560x1440, the performance decreases across all settings. Low settings average 285 FPS, Medium averages 253 FPS (min 215, max 291), High averages 158 FPS, and Ultra averages 151 FPS. The gap between Low and Medium is 32 FPS, while the gap between High and Ultra is only 7 FPS Armstrong. This suggests that the step from Medium to High is the most demanding, likely due to increased shadow quality or post-processing effects)Skip.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates are the lowest but still playable. Low settings average 199 FPS, Medium averages 159 FPS (min 135, max 183), High averages 99 FPS, and Ultra averages 95 FPS. The difference between High and Ultra is a mere 4 FPS, indicating that the Ultra preset's additional effects are minimal at this resolution. The Medium preset at 4K offers a good balance, with an average of 159 FPS and a minimum of 135 FPS, which is smoother than the High preset's 99 FPS average.

The data reveals that the Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3080 combination is never truly challenged in this game. Even at 4K Ultra, the average of 95 FPS is above the 60 FPS standard. The min/max data for Medium settings shows that the system can maintain frame rates well above the average, with the 1080p Medium max of 338 FPS being particularly notable. This indicates that the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at high rates, and the GPU is able to render frames quickly, resulting in an overall smooth experience.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal settings depend on the user's display and preference for frame rate versus visual fidelity. For a 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate, the Ultra preset is recommended, as it averages 210 FPS, which is well above the refresh rate and provides the best visual quality. The High preset at 220 FPS is also viable, but the extra 10 FPS is not worth the visual downgrade.

For a 1440p display, the High preset is the best choice, averaging 158 FPS. This is above the 144Hz refresh rate common on many 1440p monitors and offers a significant visual improvement over Medium, which averages 253 FPS but has lower fidelity. The Ultra preset at 151 FPS is nearly identical to High, so there is no reason to select it unless the user wants the absolute maximum quality, as the performance difference is negligible.

For a 4K display, the Medium preset is the recommended choice. It averages 159 FPS with a minimum of 135 FPS, which is smooth and well above the 60 FPS target. The High preset at 99 FPS is also playable, but the 60 FPS drop from Medium is substantial, and the visual difference is likely not worth the performance penalty. The Low preset at 199 FPS is unnecessary, as the Medium preset provides a better balance of quality and speed.

The Ultra preset at 4K, averaging 95 FPS, is not recommended due to its minimal performance gain over High (4 FPS) and the fact that it taxes the GPU unnecessarily. The data suggests that the Medium preset is the sweet spot for 4K, offering high frame rates with good visual fidelity. For users with 120Hz or 144Hz 4K displays, the Medium preset's 159 FPS average is ideal, while those with 60Hz displays can comfortably use High at 99 FPS.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X plays a supporting role in Inside, as the game's low thread count requirements mean that its 16 cores and 32 threads are not fully utilized. The CPU's base clock of 3.40 GHz and boost clock of 4.90 GHz are more relevant, as the game is likely single-threaded. The single-thread benchmark scores are strong: Cinebench R23 single-core is 1614, Geekbench single-core is 2083, and Passmark single-thread is 3470. These scores indicate that the 5950X has excellent per-core performance, which is crucial for maintaining high frame rates at lower resolutions.

The data shows that at 1080p, the CPU is not the bottleneck. The 1080p Low score of 318 FPS is likely near the game's engine limit, and the CPU is able to feed the GPU fast enough. The 3DMark single-thread score of 944 and 2-thread score of 1856 further confirm that the CPU has ample headroom. The L3 cache of 64 MB is large, which helps with data locality, though it is unlikely to be a major factor in this game.

Comparing to rivals, the 5950X's average benchmark score of 51947 is within 0.7% of the Intel Core i9-13900F and Intel Core i7-14700. This means that for a game like Inside, there would be no noticeable difference between these CPUshol. The 5950X's percentile rank of 91 among all CPUs is high, but this is due to its multi-threaded performance, which is not relevant here. The CPU's memory bandwidth of 51.2 GB/s with DDR4 is sufficient, and the dual-channel memory support is standard.

The measured FPS at 1080p Medium shows a maximum of 338 FPShol, which is likely near the engine's frame rate cap. This suggests that the CPU can push frames as fast as the game allows, and the GPU is not being held back. At 1440p and 4K, the CPU's role diminishes further, as the GPU becomes the limiting factor. However, the 5950X's high single-thread performance ensures that it does not introduce any frame pacing issues, as evidenced by the consistent min/max data at Medium settings. The data indicates that for Inside, the 5950X is overkill, but its performance ensures that the GPU is always the primary determinant of frame rate, which is a good position for a high-end system.